Inspiration comes in different ways. Recently I joined a group of artists, all women, to support our art endeavors and experiences.  From the conversations and my studies of ancient artworks, I found I was drawn to the small stone statues of voluptuous women, well-known as “Venus”. Soon thereafter, visions of this ancient beauty flooded my thoughts…I had to paint her.

I prepared the canvas, mixed my paints and began to work swept up in the ancestral past. Incorporated into the painting are symbols that not only were found in ancient cave etchings, but cross into roots of ancient written languages such as Egyptian, Phoenician, and Hebraic pictographs. Embedded into this painting are the meanings given by scholars today. The ancient relics of Venus are mostly regarded as fertility goddesses. Yet, women had a more valuable standing where, “Earth brings forth life, and Earth nourishes life, and so is the analogous powers of woman…the mother too of our second birth, our birth as spiritual entities.”¹ And this work conveys that…

Voluptuous Venus

Symbols

Woman — nurtures, sustains and maintains tender constant support and protection

Staff — teacher, guide, protection, moving forward (feminine)

Ox — power, strength, leadership (masculine). Together these symbolize authority.  “EL” is the Aleph, the first, and Lamed, the staff.

Position of figure — like the Hebraic “tsade” meaning side.  It is the trail, path or journey the individual takes.

¹Goddesses: Mysteries of the Feminine Divine by Joseph Campbell